Working June Vacation

The neighbors had some potential saw-logs near their house and barn that my dad and husband collected. When I say neighbors, there really is only one neighbor, one couple. They live to the west of my parents, but own(ed) the land on both the east and west, the two directions with road access. With two tractors and two chain saws, my dad and husband are quite efficient. The day before this, they collected saw logs and fire wood at my parents' cabin (to the north). So, there is not any shortage of wood.

The next-door neighbors, ages 86 and 86, recently donated their 800+ acres to the Department of Natural Resources to be used as wildlife refuge. The state land surrounds my parents'. This is the barn that still stands on that land about a mile east of my parents place. When my dad and I used to make square bales, we'd take them over here to store in this barn. We drove over there on the 4-wheelers and the guys collected the old fence-posts so that they can be reused.

One day we prepped the horse barn for stain, by removing nests and pounding nails in that had popped out a bit. Staining it with a sprayer was messy, but it saved a lot of time and worked fine for the barn. My dad built the barn in summer 2007 after he returned from Alaska. I think he said that helping us build our house gave him the itch to use his pile of sawed lumber. The first winter, the barn was used to cook sap for maple syrup and the next fall, 2008, they purchased two horses.

As soon as we arrived in Minnesota, we fell into our usual roles. My husband went behind the garage to split the wood he didn't get around to splitting the last time we were here, last November, and to make room for the new harvest. I jumped on the lawnmower and snapped photos of our boys finishing the vegetable garden planting with my mom and dad.

My Farm Favorites

Our sons are 5th generation on this farm.

Our sons with cousin Jennie on my aunt Janet's horse, Josie

My uncle Ron and my aunt Laurie, my mom, and our very exhausted son, just before sundown

The others are over at the bonfire. Jennie surprised us by riding out on a saddled horse

These are some of my favorite people, the night of a family get-together at my parents' farm

Our son with uncle Ron and aunt Janet

A bit earlier in the evening just before sunset, my dad and our son, the first to board the second hay ride

The Farmall H. It has lived up to its name.

From Cold to Hot and Back Again

One day it's in the 90s, the next in the 50s. Good ol' Minnesota! It keeps things interesting.

We had our first Minnesota playdate yesterday. My husband had to run to a town to get some plumbing parts because he was replacing my parents' water pressure tank, so we quickly called up the local cousins Jennie, Chrissy, and Beth (Aric's wife) and everyone showed up atthe playground with their kids: baby Riley, the youngest, only one-month old. My son and his older cousin Hailey have become quite fond of each other. I think it's because they have the same attitude. Just look at their faces. So far, the playgrounds we've visited have been quite impressive with very fast slides, tall tree forts, and other interesting gadgets. Even though the boy climbed the rock wall a few times, he mostly stuck here with the three excavators. Little boys.

His little brother on the other hand was quite fond of the steep ladders, tunnels, and swift slides. Moose Lake, the name of the town, is in the background. It has a Dairy Queen, which we all, kids and adults, thoroughly enjoyed afterward even though it was a cool day.

Going back in time a week or so, here's Grandpa Greg and his right-hand-man digging up some rose bushes that had been growing in the field for five years. They brought them to my cousin Jennie's because she has a new place with lots of space in need of vertical vegetation. You can't tell by how they're dressed, but this day was very, very hot. This is just one example of many, many outdoor projects that have been completed already.

The next day was cool again, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in the pool for as long as we allowed them. My son assumed the role of water monster, which the other kids happily played into. My dad also took everyone on a hay ride and all who didn't have little kids stayed late for a bonfire. The kids (almost half of whom are pictured) enjoyed chasing the chickens and playing other yard games. The blueberries, in the background have massive amounts of blossoms; it's going to be a big year. We only invited a couple of families to this party for my graduation/my husband's birthday/our anniversary, but with all of the marriages and kids that have sprung from my generation on my maternal side, it was quite a large group.